NSW Education turns to Deloitte for HCM program delivery

The NSW Department of Education has handed $69 million to Deloitte to help deliver its new human resources platform over the next three years.

The department delivered the first phase of its human capital management program last year, migrating education support services staff from a legacy SAP system and onto SAP SuccessFactors.

The next phase will cover implementing recruitment and onboarding for schools, as well as core human resources services, iTnews understands.

A NSW Department of Education spokesperson told iTnews that Deloitte will provide data migration and change management services during the program, with its contract expiring in June 2028.

The department announced it had “embarked on a journey to modernise, streamline and transform its HR systems” three years ago, saying it intended to “simplify the HR technology landscape” and provide an “integrated and consistent user experience”.

The appointment of Deloitte follows NSW Education's recent engagement with global systems integrator Infosys to help transition its SAP ECC6 enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to S/4HANA by the end of 2027.

iTnews understands that the HCM component will be integrated with internal and external applications across the SAP cloud integration suite.

A complex history

NSW Department of Education faced a challenging and complex transformation of HCM systems during the mid-2000s as it attempted to replace its 1990s-built finance and payroll technology stack.

Beginning in 2006, the learning management and business Reform (LMBR) program saw the department attempt to replace its legacy systems with an integrated SAP-based enterprise suite, including finance, student administration and HR and payroll.

Despite early progress, with finance and HR systems deployed at TAFE and systems rolled out to pilot schools, the program experienced significant delays and cost overruns.

One of the key obstacles was the complexity of teacher leave entitlements, which proved "very complicated" and incompatible with standard commercial payroll products.

The department ultimately had to customise the SAP solution to accommodate a wide range of scenarios, including school holiday pay, unpaid leave and sick leave.

In 2018, the department reached the end of the LMBR rollout, four years after its slated completion date, and at a final cost of $750 million.